How Does Music Get On Vinyl? We Explain!
Maybe we're bias, but there's something special about vinyl records – the sound of the past with a hint of the future. When you hear the needle hit the vinyl, it starts an experience! But before you can enjoy the sound, it’s important to understand how they work.
The number one question we get asked here is: how does music get on vinyl?
Vinyl records are made by cutting grooves into the record with a lathe. This is done by a process called lathe-cutting, which uses a stylus to cut the grooves into the surface of the record. The grooves are then filled with the sound from the recording.
When you place a record on a turntable, the stylus follows the grooves and vibrates, creating the sound you hear. The stylus also moves the needle up and down, creating the tiny bumps in the record that you can feel. This is why you can sometimes hear a “pop” when you start playing a record.
This is a very over-simplified explanation and one that can be hard to comprehend without seeing it. To visualize the process we turned to TikTok and shared this 30-second video about how grooves get onto records.
Check it out here:
